The name Adlam is from the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name was given to a person who was a soldier. The surname Adlam literally means noble protector. The name was derived from the Old English adel helm which literally means "eagle shield." [1]
Another source claims the name was "from adel, meaning fine, noble, and ham, meaning a village or castle. " [2]
The surname Adlam was first found in the county of Somerset in south western England where, it is said the family had been settled centuries before the Norman Conquest in 1066 A.D.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Adlam research. Another 82 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1631, 1677, 1631, 1659, 1750 and 1823 are included under the topic Early Adlam History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Adlam family name include Headlam, Adhelm, Eadhelm, Adelhelm, Addlam, Adlum, Adlam and many more.
Notables of this surname at this time include: Captain W. Adlam, who fought with the "Roundheads" (Parliamentarians) during the English Civil War of the 17th century; and Captain S. Adlam, who fought in the French wars in Canada.
Richard Edlin or...
Another 40 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Adlam Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Some of the Adlam family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Investigation of the origins of family names on the North American continent has revealed that early immigrants bearing the name Adlam or a variant listed above: